


Better Than a Crisis

by painted_in_ink



Series: How to Crisis [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:27:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22776391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/painted_in_ink/pseuds/painted_in_ink
Summary: Exactly how the name sounds. A long time ago in a document far away I wanted to write something better than a demanding situation that leads to a break in romantic tension... I just wanted them to make up their minds by themselves.Set in season four. (Yes, another oldie, but still special to me<3)
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Caitlin Snow, killervibe
Series: How to Crisis [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637419
Kudos: 7





	Better Than a Crisis

It’s a slow dreary morning for Team Flash’s headquarters. Barry and the other members are resting in the break room, no doubt discussing the abrupt lull in criminal activity. It’s all too suspicious if you ask him, but Cisco knows it’s the calm before the storm.

He tries not to tell Caitlin that, though, when she asks him from her desk across the room. With a small smile, he returns to his thoughts.

Sure enough, he just needed to let a few more minutes pass before the next meta-human alert comes streaming in, and then it’s time to get back into the action. _The never-ending action_ , Cisco accidentally thinks out-loud to himself, pausing just in front of his desk as Caitlin grabs her jacket.

“Huh?” She asks him, turning.

He finds himself considering this tall, chestnut-haired beauty before him, and is suddenly overwhelmed by whatever divine entity caused her to be here right now. She, out of all of them, has had just as much if not more reason to leave.

All of this evil, meta-human drama had started with her losing the love of her life, twice, and lead to her being taken and held like a war prisoner back when they had to deal with Zoom, then her death and succumbing to an alter ego who he knew she was terrified would cause her to harm everyone she still knew and cared about.

Not to mention losing her after discovering she _was_ her. She has literally been to the dark side and returned.

Yet here she stands, picking up the pieces of everything that life’s thrown at her, fighting to give others the same chance.

He wonders about these things, before realizing that he’s been standing here for probably well over a few minutes, and he’s earned himself a more than concerned stare from the said subject of his pondering. “Cisco, you okay?” He finally hears her say, commanding and clear.

He remains motionless, and a small “mhm” is all he manages while he considers the things that have been consuming him for days. She waits while he grapples with the decision he thinks he should have made weeks ago. Months, he decides. It’s well past time. He watches the ground a moment longer, then brings his gaze level to hers, startling her with his look of decisiveness.

If she seems confused now, it’s even more so when he starts to walk towards her with a purpose.

Right up until he kisses her.

It’s soft and slow, he’s in no way in a rush as he cups her cheeks; taking his time until he breaks it off to search her eyes, only to be startled when she takes a deep breath… and pulls him back in.

He’s still in shock a moment longer before wrapping her in his arms, leaning towards her. He steps in, her weight supported by the table before she pulls herself onto it, shifting him closer until he’s just between her legs.

His hands lightly begin to wander and caress her sides, enamored by the fact that she’s so close and not wanting to jinx it.

Her hands had shifted from fisting in his shirt to wrap around his neck, and he follows her cues to kiss her deeper, and deeper… Until he feels the temperature in the back of her throat shift suddenly and he comes freezing to a halt, worried he’s gone too far. _She’s_ _afraid._

“I’m sorry,” She says, noticing his pause and breaking the kiss. “I didn’t mean to, I just—“

“—Hey, hey,” He interrupts her apology, pressing a hand to the side of her face in a calming gesture and at the same time putting some distance between them. Ever the best-friend first, she deserved that from him always.

“This probably isn’t the best time for this anyway.” He jokes, pulling his hand back, hoping she’ll look at him. He knew he should have started with words.

“Look, let me tell you what’s going on, okay?” He says, trying to hide how desperate he is for her to meet his eyes. She only gives him a slight nod to tell him she’s listening.

He bites his lip and takes a deep breath. “I’m tired. I’m so tired of all this stuff that never stops raining down on our lives. We do good and it hardly even seems to matter. We’re responsible for so much just because we’re _able_ to go to bat with the bad guys, but it hardly changes.”

He realizes the more words he speaks, the truer they feel. “I’m tired for you, Barry, Iris, Joe, and Wells. I’m tired of waking up every day and not knowing what to expect. I’m tired of feeling like we’re the only ones who want to do good in this city anymore.”

His broken laugh isn’t lost on her. She doesn’t know where he’s going with this, he sees, so he starts to get more specific.

“I’m tired of the way we live and it's heartbreaking, and waking up everyday feeling out of place. But most importantly,” He meets her gaze, “I’m tired of not telling you the reason why I broke it off with Gypsy all those months ago… and why I haven’t been with anyone since.”He’s got her attention now, she can’t help it. “The reason I can’t think of being with anyone anymore.. who isn’t you.”

She’s crying now.

“I’m so sorry, Caitlin. I should have told you sooner. But I’m doing my best to make up for it, now, sweetheart—“ She buries her head into his neck, wracked with sobs as his heart sinks down into his chest.

“I’m so, so sorry, honey.” He rubs circles into her back, wondering what he can do.

She raises her head up to talk, after a bit, but he shushes her. “Caitlin—“

“Cisco,” she says, reaching up for his face and revealing her teary eyes, though somewhat lit with what he thinks might be a small glimmer of hope.

“Yes?” he answers hesitantly.

Her chin trembles a bit as she asks, “All this time?”

His heart breaks open a little more. 

“Yes.” The pause is indefinite, hanging in the room until he finishes. “I’m in love with you, Caitlin.”

~~~

Caitlin is tired.

She’s tired of the running, the hiding. Tired of her seemingly inability to speak about the things that are bothering her the most, things that are important… Like how she feels about Cisco.

She seems unable to express when the shift happened in their relationship, where before she wanted him to be happy with other people and never saw how they could be anything more than friends…

To realizing that they have always been very… Connected, for just being friends…

To wishing that he was the person she could come home to every night, that would comfort _her_ about _her_ Issues and they’d.. talk, about this crazy life that they lead because, in a way, there was no one else who could understand the way they lived... Not really.

Somehow or another, she marveled, there came a point where he was really the only person that she wanted to imagine spending her life with.

And it was killing her because she never had the bravery to break the dame in the hopes that it would spill over… and shift their relationship the way she wanted instead of destroying it.

There had been countless occasions that she had wanted to talk to him about it… Not long after things ended with Cynthia… But she just couldn’t get anything out of her throat.

She was scared, she realized. Even though there was no one threatening her life… She was scared out of her mind.

So she did nothing, and said nothing, and acted like things were totally normal and would never change.

That’s the funny thing about life, she thinks, is sometimes you can’t keep it from changing.

All this runs through her head as she gathers herself for what will inevitably be another crazy day for them, (if central city and the multiverse have anything to say about it) when she notices that Cisco is standing completely still, so much so that she’s almost convinced he’s getting a vibe, almost.

She snaps to get his attention.

He doesn’t seem startled, which is odd. When he hardly responds to her question, she decides to hope that waiting will do the trick.

Which doesn’t take too long, except he’s not speaking, he’s looking up and coming towards her, and for the most bizarre reason, she can’t figure out why there isn’t a warning bell going off in the back of her head telling her that something has _definitely changed_ right up until the moment that he steps up and kisses her.

His mouth is soft and warm, and she’s so full of sensations that she can’t tell if she’s melting really fast, or really slow.

Slow, as it turns out, so slowly that she almost doesn’t know what to do when he pulls away.

Not in possession of her brain or able to remember anything before a few seconds ago, she does something that the none fed-up Caitlin would’ve been mortified by, she grabs his shirt and pulls him back.

Her senses are a live-wire when he reaches around her back and pulls her closer. Hazy thoughts come through— Warmth. She didn’t know she could still feel this much of it. Everywhere, her lips, her neck, start to generate so much of it from having him this close that it steals her breath.

She nearly groans when his hands start to trace pathways across her torso, and she briefly remembers needing to climb on top of the table for support; to bring him closer, so much closer.

She lets herself get lost in him.. Just him.. before she begins to remember exactly who ‘him’ is, and starts to wonder if this is all just a dream or a fantasy.

Could Cisco Ramon be doing this with her right now? Doing this _to_ her?

He feels her hesitate and she knows that’s why he lessons his assault, though he clearly doesn’t want to, and part of her strongly wishes he wouldn’t.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“ She starts, but he steps back and shushes her; always the gentleman taking the blame. Which she’s grateful and sad for, because she doesn’t know why, but she feels like she may be having an anxiety attack.

There’s no way that.. They’ve danced away from this topic their entire friendship, why would he start something different now?

They may have lost everything in this one moment.

He begins explaining… The first part sounds like white noise.

… Tired for you, Barry, Iris, Joe and Wells.” She understands that, but she can’t bring herself to see why he’s bringing it up now. “I’m tired of the way we live and it's heartbreaking, and waking up everyday feeling out of place. But most importantly,” He meets her gaze, “I’m tired of not telling you the reason why I broke it off with Gypsy all those months ago… and why I haven’t been with anyone since.”

She gulps, entranced.

“The reason I can’t think of being with anyone anymore.. who isn’t you.” He finishes, soft but meaningful.

She’s not sure at which point she loses her cool.

But then he’s rubbing her back, apologizing… And she can’t help but ask the one question that will either make or break her.

_Have you felt this way the whole time?_

The answer would at best be bittersweet. If he has, she doesn’t want to think about how much time they’ve wasted.

If not…

She doesn’t have a chance to truly follow that terrifying train of thought, because his face just absolutely melts for her while he confesses words she never thought she’d hear.

Caitlin feels herself beam up at him from beneath her tear-soaked lashes, _beyond_ happy, _beyond_ believing. She’s in love with her best friend, and he’s in love with her.

She makes sure to tell him that in between kisses.

**Author's Note:**

> Is it up for revising? Totally. Is it cheesy? Maybe, but it has its own charms. Did you also picture Caitlin in her early season 4 outfit and makeup? Because I really liked how they did that.


End file.
